>> Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Christmas is right around the corner and you know what that means... big overindulgent dinners. Being that this time of year most of us let ourselves indulge on foods we normally don't eat because of the calorie or fat content, I thought I share my love handle mash potatoes recipe that will go perfect with that festive dinner or once in a while on your ordinary dinner table. (If your family is like mine one of the must side dishes to our Goose or Turkey is mash potatoes.) Normally my mash potatoes aren't as rich or calorie laden as this recipe, Ok, Ok I admit it, I usually just cook the ones out of the box. But that's because I have a hard time with making good mash potatoes because we all know that really good mash potatoes taste the best with loads of butter and lots of whole milk, or even better cream. But since I try to make healthy choices and lower calorie dinners for my family, it's hard for me to load up all those extra calories. The reason why I call these love handle mash potatoes is because of the evaporated milk and all the butter, guaranteed to give us love handles. For an extra flavor to these amazing potatoes I like to add roasted garlic, these flavors just come together so well I guarantee you'll make them again.

1. The first step is to roast the garlic(s) in the oven, pre-heat oven to 200 C / 392 F. Wash the garlic bulb(s) and trim off just the top to expose the tip of the bulbs. Place the garlic inside the mold or on top of aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil over the entire bulb, sprinkle the spices. Cover with aluminum foil if using a mold or wrap into a pouch. Roast for 20-30 minutes, until the garlic feels soft or cooked all the way through.

1. Fill half way a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. While you wait for the water to boil wash and peel the potatoes. Slice the potatoes into quarter or eighths depending on the size of potatoes you use, try to cut symmetrical sizes so that they all cook through at the same rate. While your waiting measure out and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

The garlic should be done by now, allow to cool a couple of minutes. Once it's cooled enough for you handle you can either break it apart and remove one by one of the cloves by squeezing it into a plate or bowl. Or just grab the entire bulb and squeeze out all of the garlic.

2. Once the potatoes have cooked through strain them and add them back to the same pot. Cut the butter into small chunks and distribute around the potatoes, allowing the butter to melt. Next add the garlic, spices and half of the condensed milk, using the potato masher start mashing. Slowly add the rest of the condensed milk or add more depending on the thickness that you desire. (I like my mash potatoes a bit chunky so I don't over mash). Taste for salt, when you serve sprinkle some dry rosemary and your done, ( for extra calories you can also top with more butter). Dig in!